The Skyllian Blitz
by heraclitus1
Summary: Seven years before the events of Mass Effect, a young Marine named Kyler Shepard visits Elysium to enjoy some shore leave when her vacation plans take an unexpected turn. Character based off of character of the same name from harpandsword, by permission.
1. Arrival

**THE SKYLLIAN BLITZ**

**Arrival**

Service Chief Kyler Shepard stepped off of the transport and onto the tarmac of the small outdoor spaceport on Elysium. This was her first time taking shore leave since she'd joined the Alliance Military at age 18 – and that had been over four years ago. It wasn't that Kyler hated relaxing; she just hated pirates, slavers, and batarians more, hated them enough that she preferred foregoing time off if it meant the chance to turn a slaver or batarian into a corpse. Though she had no idea, some of her more perceptive superiors had correctly guessed in private that the reason she drove herself and her fellow Alliance Marines so hard was because she had had a chip on her shoulder the size of Sol ever since Mindoir. It had taken her less than four years to earn the rank of Service Chief, and she had long since cemented her spot in the N7 Marine Special Forces. Her brilliant small unit leadership, resourcefulness, and tenacity had already earned her a budding reputation in the "N" community.

For her part, Shepard was content to put the scum of the galaxy permanently out of business. Promotions and recognition were nice and all - the extra pay sure didn't hurt - but Kyler Shepard hadn't joined the Marines on a misguided quest for glory or even revenge, and she certainly wasn't in it for the money. Her superiors were actually correct for once. She was a Marine because when her life had been destroyed six years ago she had promised herself that she would do whatever it took to prevent others from experiencing what she had gone through back at Mindoir. Whatever it took.

She would never admit it, but that was her dark little secret. It was why she had been engaged in four consecutive years of constant deployments and combat assignments without letting up once, until one day her new Platoon Commander looked over her service record and realized that she had not taken a single day off during her entire time in the Alliance Military. He had immediately insisted that his promising young Squad Leader take some well-deserved shore leave, and he had recommended Elysium because of its well-deserved reputation for being a good but affordable vacation spot - as colonial planets went, anyway. He hadn't said so out loud, but he had also recognized that she had nowhere else to go and no family anywhere. Shepard resisted at first, but eventually departed after Lieutenant Bradley finally resorted to ordering her to take some time off.

Now standing on the tarmac, Kyler Shepard silently laughed to herself. _Good old LT. Always looking out for us, even if I really don't want to be here. _As she looked around at the landscape she found her mind wandering, and it occurred to her how much the trees resembled the ones on Mindoir that used to grow around her old home. She brushed away the beginnings of a small tear at the thought. _Pull it together, Kye, you're stronger than this. Come on…_ She quickly looked around to see if anyone noticed. Content that no one had, she strode into the flight terminal. She needed a drink.

**

* * *

**

"Kye! Kyler Shepard!"

Her heart skipped a beat in recognition as she turned and she hopped off her barstool to greet the friend behind the voice.

"Digs! I had no idea you were here! It's so good to see you again!" She gave Corporal Diego Ramirez a big hug and a bigger smile as he ran up to welcome her.

"It's great to see you, Kye! But what in the galaxy brings you out here?" He stared at her suspiciously, but with humor still twinkling in his eyes. "We're not about to start conducting urban warfare training, are we? I know that there's no way you're actually here to have fun."

"New unit, new Platoon Commander. He ordered me to take some shore leave."

Diego laughed loudly. "Ordered you? _Ordered_ you? Geez, Kye, you are the only Marine I've ever met who had to be coerced into taking any time off. Sometimes I worry about your sanity."

"Only sometimes?"

"Okay, all the time. You really put the 'special' back into Special Forces."

They stayed at the bar for a while, reminiscing over past campaigns, laughing at old inside jokes and just catching up with each other. There was certainly a lot to talk about. Kyler and Diego had come up through boot camp and the Marine Special Forces Program together before getting assigned to the same operational unit. They had worked up through the ranks together and had even been in the same squad until she got promoted to Service Chief ahead of him and was transferred to a different ship's company to fill an open Squad Leader billet.

**

* * *

**

_Aboard the SSV Canae, 2173 (three years ago)_

"Do you think we should tell him about the dead fish we stuffed in the air vent of his sleeping pod before or after he yells at us for starting a food fight in the chow hall?" Private First Class Shepard muttered under her breath to Private First Class Ramirez.

"I vote that we let sleeping dogs lie," he whispered back. "And incidentally, the regs do officially call the chow hall, 'the mess,' so technically speaking, we were just making sure that everyone else was in keeping with the regulations."

She choked as she tried unsuccessfully to hold back her laughter. Now, as they both stood at attention in front of the Company Operation Chief's office, was not the time to suddenly develop a sense of humor. "Don't make me laugh now, stupid. I'll get us both in trouble."

Diego grinned from ear to ear. "Right. Because we're _not_ already in way over our heads. Get real, Kye. We're toast, so we may as well have some fun while we crash and burn." Their whispers were barely audible now, even to each other.

"In that case, I retract my earlier question. And I think we're going to need some more dead fish.

"For Henderson's sleeping pod?"

"No, for the rest of squad _minus_ Henderson. I still can't believe he told LT that we started the food fight."

"But we did start it."

"That's beside the point."

"Wait, you mean put dead fish in _our_ pods too?"

"Of course."

"You can't be serious."

Her turn to grin. "Only way to frame Henderson. Don't tell me that you don't want to see that little rat squirm when he tries to explain to LT and the Chief why his is the only sleeping pod that doesn't reek of shellfish. We might even be able to pin the food fight on him retroactively."

"You're insane, you do realize that, don't you?" He thought about it for a second. "Okay, let's do it. But we need to make sure that we acquire some serious air freshener from the cargo deck before we pull this job, because we won't be able to find any once we're done."

"Hope you like your sushi pungent and rotten, Digs."

"Yup, certifiably insane."

**

* * *

**

"Well, we ought to head over to customs pretty soon, unless we just want to drink away the whole morning." They looked at each other. Diego grinned. He knew how much she hated bureaucrats and wannabe soldiers. "Come on, Kye, let's just get it over with."

As she got to the customs entrance, Kyler noticed that the spaceport guards were making a big show of the security checkpoint. She frowned slightly and bit her tongue to prevent any rash comments from coming out. The whole act was so obviously superficial, you'd have to be either naïve or ignorant to think that it was actually accomplishing anything other than marking a check in the box. _Your precious red tape won't protect you if you get attacked. Trust me._ Kyler shook her head. _God help us if these showboats are indicative of the local security garrison around here. _

When it was finally her turn to go through the gate the snot nosed rent-a-cop in charge found himself suddenly taken aback as he stared into the coldest pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen, daring him to give her an order. "Um, you can go," he gulped meekly. Shepard glared at him with a gaze that could freeze the sun. He gulped again. "Please?" Kyler swirled her bright red hair behind her, and she and Diego walked out into Elysium without looking back.

Outside of the spaceport, Diego was laughing so hard that it took him a few minutes to get his words out. "Geez, Kye, I couldn't make up my mind if he was going to piss himself or die of constipation first. Did you see the look on his face?"

"Well, I put it there, didn't I?" Kyler grinned back at him. "What? He deserved it."

The attack came so suddenly and so viciously that Shepard almost missed the tell-tale contrails of gray-green smoke emitted by the attack skiff after its first strafing run on the spaceport. As she and Diego were looking around to assess the damage it came around for a second run. Kyler instinctively dove for cover, rolling to the side and grabbing her pack as she did so. She saw Diego do the same out of the corner of her eye. The pirate skiff wasn't interested in killing people - yet, anyway - and targeted the fuel reserve close to the hanger bay, causing an enormous explosion that rocked the building and sent shrapnel and shattered glass into the crowd who had been leaving the spaceport with her. Screams and cries for help punctuated the air, but Shepard felt suddenly sick to her stomach for a different reason. Even from where she was, Kyler could see that between the two quick strafing runs, nearly all of the ships that were docked in the east Elysium were now either destroyed or in desperate need of repair. None of them were space worthy any more, and she was willing to bet that they wouldn't be able to go very far or fast in atmo either. Whoever had planned this raid wanted to ensure that none of the inhabitants would be able to escape for some reason. _I guess this means visiting the beach is out of the question. _In spite of her situation, Kyler laughed at her own private joke. Since joining the Alliance Marines, she lived for moments like this.

From her place of concealment Kyler heard the low-pitch whine of another vessel, one she immediately recognized as an orbital transport as she continued to focus on getting her armor and gear prepped._ Okay, there's the drop ship. Pretty standard for a raid. Digs and I probably can't kill all of them, but if we can dodge that attack skiff we should be able to make their lives miserable enough that they might decide to just lea… _The thought died in her mind as she suddenly heard another transport, then another, and another. Pretty soon she couldn't distinguish from the noise how many orbital transports were coming down. But there were a lot. _Where are they all coming from?_ Shepard crawled out, looked up at the sky just beyond the atmosphere, and froze. She had never seen that many non-Alliance warships in one place before in her life.

_Oh. Shit. This isn't a raid. This is a full-scale invasion. They mean to wipe this colony out completely. _She glanced over at Diego. His face looked as shocked as she felt. Shepard did a quick estimate in her head as she assessed the enemy situation. _Most of those ships are batarian, but there are definitely some other alien vessels, maybe even a few human ones. They must be coming from the Terminus Systems. I wonder who organized that coalition… _She shook her head. There was no way of knowing, and anyway, did it really even matter? She made a quick adjustment to her biotic amp. _You're not walking away from this one, Kye. No way. But at least you get to die defending a human colony. _She took a deep breath and clenched her teeth before putting on her helmet. _You bastards attacked the wrong freaking planet. This is for everyone who died at Mindoir. This time, it's personal._


	2. Contact

**Contact**

Being careful to remain concealed and under cover, she opened her pack, pulling out her customized Onyx armor and Hahne-Kedar weapon systems. _Glad I opted to bring these along._ For a split second her mind went back to one of the maxims that her Platoon Sergeant, Gunnery Chief Santiago was always preaching:_ It pays to be lucky, but most of the time you have to make your own luck._

Kyler took one last look at the demolished spaceport and decided against going inside to search for survivors. There probably wasn't anything she could do to help them anyway. More importantly, she knew that there was a short period of time immediately after anyone debarked from their orbital transports when they were vulnerable to counter-attack. In fact, until the Navy had finally made it a point to upgrade that capability the year prior, the Marines had always made it common practice to train on how to quickly deploy from transports for that very reason. Most people though, including pirates and slavers, did not take the time to practice something that seemed so insignificant at first glance. If she and Diego could get to the pirates' LZ quickly enough, they might have a chance to exploit that weakness.

Diego was staring at the wreckage. They didn't have time for this. Shepard grabbed him by the collar and yanked him around, shaking him out of his stupor. "Forget about them, they're dead. If you want to save the others, we need to get to their LZ. _Now_." Without waiting to see if he was coming, she let go and started sprinting as hard as she could from one concealed position to the next, rapidly making her way towards where the transports had landed. _We're not strong enough to defend, so we'll have to attack. Don't think about numbers, Kye, just focus! Numbers mean nothing; will is everything! Faster! You have to move __**faster!**_

When they got to the clearing where the first two pirate vessels were debarking, she immediately found some cover and breathed a huge sigh of relief in spite of herself. Her suspicions were correct. The batarians were clearly over-confident due to their large numbers and the fact that their prey had no means of escape since the spaceport was destroyed. Consequently, they were taking their sweet time getting off the transports and getting their gear organized for the inevitable rape of Elysium. _First mistake._ Still observing from her concealed position, Shepard quickly noticed that most of them had taken their armor off to unload heavy weapons and explosives off of the transports, and those that were wearing armor hadn't activated their shields. None of them were wearing helmets, and some of the raiders were only carrying their sidearms. It was easily the most disorganized, least secure "military" debarkation she had ever witnessed. The pirates were clearly not concerned about local security forces or resistance at all. _Can't say I blame you too much. I wasn't impressed with their security either, but you still should have established some sentries around your LZ. Second mistake._ That's when Shepard saw their third mistake: the fuel line for the second transport was leaking onto the ground about thirty meters from where she and Corporal Ramirez were hiding. _Bingo._ She motioned to him. His eyes got big as she pointed to the fuel leak, and he smirked as he turned towards her. He understood.

It took them less than a minute to prep the fuses on the charges. Twenty seconds was an eternity in combat, but having the extra seconds would give them a little more time to put some additional space between them and the blast radius. She was willing to take her chances with the unsuspecting raiders, who might be able to drain their shields in that time, as opposed to an explosion up close, which almost certainly would.

Shepard and Ramirez stealthily low-crawled from their position to the edge of the clearing. They locked eyes for a second. He nodded. _Here goes nothing._

They stood up and started sprinting, covering the remaining twenty meters of open ground to the leaking fuel line on the transport in a few agonizingly long seconds. Being careful to avoid getting any fuel on herself, Kyler dropped to one knee and took a quick look around. Amazingly, no one had noticed them yet. _Better exploit that before they figure out where you are and what you're trying to do. _She made eye contact with Diego. He was going to need some time to set the charges. She motioned towards the far side of the transport. He took one last deep breath, looked back down at the explosives, and set the timer. Thirty seconds to go. In one fluid motion Shepard drew her Hahne-Kedar shotgun and put up a barrier of dark energy around herself as she ran around the corner of the transport to where the raiders were debarking.

_One._

_Two._

A startled pirate looked up just in time to see the muzzle flash that turned his head into pink mist.

_Three._

Exclamations of surprise were broken up by successive shotgun blasts that dropped an additional two batarians who were carrying a crate filled with rockets of some kind.

_Four._

She dashed towards a squad-sized group standing just beyond another stack of crates carrying chemical satchel charges a few meters in front of her, crumpling the hatch of the nearest transport with a burst of warping dark energy as she did so. The muffled screams of the batarians being crushed by the collapsing metal didn't even register in her brain.

_Five._

In one sinuous motion Shepard vaulted over the crate and kicked another batarian under the bridge of his nose, snapping his neck, as she simultaneously caught two more straight in the chest with two rapid discharges before they had time move or even think.

_Six._

The warning indicator in her helmet's HUD started beeping to inform her that her shotgun had just overheated. She wouldn't be able to fire again for another five seconds. And there were still three pirates within a couple meters of where she was standing.

_Seven._

The batarian on her left shot her in the face from point blank, causing the blue aura around her to flicker slightly but not penetrating her shields.

_Eight._

Shepard kicked sideways, shattering his knee-cap as she butt-stroked the pirate directly in front of her with her shotgun, splitting his head open.

_Nine._

Letting go of the shotgun with her left hand, she grabbed the now-crippled pirate by the throat and aimed the downward stroke of the shotgun at the batarian to her right, hitting him square across the face with a pistol-whipping motion.

_Ten._

Augmenting her strength with her biotics, she threw the crippled batarian as hard as she could towards another small group off to the left, knocking them all backwards several meters and successfully entangling them as they tried to pull out their weapons.

_Eleven._

Gripping the shotgun with two hands again, she brought it down on the skull of the stunned pirate at her feet, killing him instantly. In her peripheral vision she saw another squad-sized group of batarians raising their weapons and firing as they ran towards her from the right, one of them stopping for a split second to release a couple varren from an iron kennel. The blue aura surrounding her flickered more as the mass effect particles started depleting her shield barrier.

_Twelve._

The beeping in her helmet stopped, indicating that her shotgun could fire again. Shepard hit the charging switch on her weapon and dove headfirst over the crate she had just vaulted, twisting her body horizontally in a winding, graceful motion as she fired into the oncoming rush of pirates to her right. The carnage blast caused the heads of two raiders to disappear immediately, and two other batarians to drop their weapons and fall to the ground screaming as they held their faces. Three other pirates managed to squeeze off short bursts, and she felt her shields drain even more as more mass effect particles hit her.

_Thirteen._

She landed, rolled, and pulled out a grenade as she took cover behind a crate filled with satchel charges.

_Fourteen._

Ducking to avoid the mass effect particles pinging overhead, she primed the grenade and shoved it in between the grating of the crate. _Time to go._

_Fifteen._

She pulled out another grenade with her left hand, stood, and fired her shotgun right into the open maw of a leaping varren, throwing it backwards as it went into its death throes.

_Sixteen. _

Another blast straight into the face of the other varren knocked it backwards, lifeless. With her left hand Shepard heaved the grenade towards another set of crates about fifteen meters away, praying that they were filled with something explosive. A batarian fired a poorly aimed burst that grazed her right shoulder.

_Seventeen. _

_Must. Run. _She heard the report of Diego's assault rifle set on full automatic and breathed a quick prayer of thanks as she watched three batarians crumple in her peripheral vision. Diego must have finished setting the charges and gotten clear. She pumped her arms harder, trying to put as much distance as possible between her and the transport rigged with charges.

_Eighteen._

_Faster._ Less than twenty meters to the relative safety of the tree line. The other pirates had finally figured out what was happening – or at least that she was not one of them – and were firing at her from multiple positions. She could see the effect on her rapidly depleting shields in her helmet's HUD.

_Nineteen._

Ten meters. Diego's assault rifle was still on overkill as he laid down as much covering fire as he could for her. _Faster._

_Twent-_

The shockwave from the explosions lifted her off her feet, spun her around, and threw her almost all the way back into the tree line. She saw her shield indicator go to zero in her HUD right before she had the wind knocked out of her from landing flat on her stomach. She lay motionless on the ground, gasping for air, for almost a full minute before she tried to move again.

_Ouch. Note to self: next time allow more time to get out of the blast radius._

_Better yet, let's just avoid ever having a "next time."_


	3. Fight or Flight

**Fight or Flight**

"Kye! **KYE!** Are you all right?" She stirred, willing herself to move again as Diego ran over to her. "You crazy, stupid…" His voice was shaking so much that he couldn't even finish his train of thought.

"Sorry, Digs, I got caught up in the heat of the moment."

"Whatever. Just please don't ever cut it that close again, okay?" He propped her up, checking for wounds. "Medigel?" She shook her head, and Diego helped her to her feet. "You look like the morning after shore leave."

"Wouldn't know. This is my first time, remember?"

"Right."

They stood there for a minute, assessing the damage. The explosion from the charges Diego had set on the transport had produced sympathetic detonations on the adjacent one, reducing them to burning hulks. Kyler had timed her grenades perfectly, and they had gone off at almost the same instant as the initial blast, setting off additional sympathetic detonations among the ammunition crates in the middle of the LZ. The result had been a spectacular and deadly chain of explosions. The concussive shockwaves, shrapnel, and heat from the blasts had killed nearly all of the batarians at the LZ, close to forty of them judging from charred remains, and the fireball had ensured that everything that hadn't been instantly destroyed was incinerated afterwards. A few of the pirates looked like they might be barely alive, but their odds for survival among the burning wreckage and chemicals were slim at best. Kyler and Diego could smell the acidic fumes mixing with the stench of burning flesh.

Shepard crinkled her nose is disgust. _One thing the vids can never show is how repulsive death smells._ She picked out a likely area for survivors and turned to Diego. "Cover me, I'm going to go poke around for a bit."

Diego nodded understandingly as he pulled out his sniper rifle. He had noticed her searching for potential survivors. "To find answers?"

"To find solutions."

"Roger that, Chief. I'll be in the tree line." He paused. "Do I need to tell you to be careful?"

She grinned. "Come on, Digs, you know me better than that."

"That's why I'm asking."

"I'll be fine," she laughed as she turned towards the debris-strewn clearing. _I hope._

The truth was that neither she nor Diego had any idea what kind of chemicals were in the containers that had detonated, and if any of them were weaponized… Kyler shuddered, not wanting to think about that particular "what if" scenario. But it was a risk she had to take, because the only way they were going to get any good intel on the composition of the enemy force was to interrogate a survivor. Assuming she could find one.

As it turned out, she didn't get to search very long. The attack skiff came back instead.

"Chief, get out of there!" Diego's warning over their open comm channel had barely registered when she heard the roar of the skiff's engines as it fly directly overhead, doing its own battle damage assessment.

"Way ahead of you, Sherlock." Shepard was already in a dead sprint back to the concealment of the tree line. She could hear the skiff coming around for a second pass, and already knew that there was no way she would make it. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course they'd send their own guys to scope out what happened. We only made a huge fireball saying, "Look at me, I'm over here!" How did I forget about that damn skiff?_ The skiff had seen her and had started strafing the remains of the LZ. The impacts were getting closer, and there was nothing she could do about it.

Suddenly the starboard side of the skiff shuddered and exploded, blowing the wing off and causing the cockpit to catch fire. Shepard threw herself behind the wreckage of one of the transports and looked up in utter disbelief as the skiff plummeted to the ground, a mass of metal and flame.

Diego was whooping and hollering with unabashed glee. "Did you see that? Did you _**SEE**_ that? Better luck next time, you lousy bastards! I'm the best damn sniper there ever was!"

It had truly been a one-in-a-million shot. As soon as he had seen the skiff coming, Diego had shouted a warning to Shepard and started moving as quickly as he could to a position outside of the trees where he had a clear field of view. He knew that his sniper rifle wouldn't be able to down the skiff, but Corporal Ramirez was a Marine. He had improvised, opting to go with his grenade launcher instead of his sniper rifle. Maybe a sniper round wouldn't accomplish anything, but an incendiary grenade in the right place had a chance. That he was able to gauge the differing velocities and altitudes in time and still launch the grenade so that it plunked neatly into the starboard air intake as it was speeding low over the LZ was nothing short of miraculous. That the grenade had done its job once it got there was now evidenced by the newest addition of twisted, burning metal on the ground.

"Kye, did you see that?"

"Yeah, I think so. What happened?"

"I fired an incendiary right into its air intake! No scope, no electronics, nothing but iron sights and skill, baby! Hot damn! I just shot down a freaking skiff with a grenade launcher! I could live a hundred years and never make another shot like that!"

"Congratulations," she grumbled. "I'm fine, by the way, thanks for asking." Kyler looked up at the morning sky. Her near brush with death had caused her mind to wake up again, and now it was moving at a hundred miles a minute. _Why are you still hiding in the cloud cover? You had to just see that. Where are you?_

"Hey, Kye, are you still looking for survivors or are you coming back?"

_Wait for it._ "No, not just yet. Hang on a second. And don't give away your position."

He recognized the tension in her voice. "Roger that, Chief."

Less than five seconds later the other two attack skiffs roared past their position, streaking from one of the many gray clouds overhead. _There you are. I knew you had to be close. _Even pirates weren't stupid enough to launch a groundside invasion of this size with only one attack vessel in support. "Any chance you've got another miracle over there, Diego?"

"Sure, why not?" His voice was laced with sarcasm. Best damn sniper there ever was or not, there was no way that he could handle two more attack skiffs.

_No, these two are mine._ Kyler looked around. _Where did that crate go, I just saw it over here…_

Shepard found what she was looking for. It was a long shot, but maybe... Now she just needed a diversion.

"Diego, I need you to light up one of those birds with your sniper rifle."

"WHAT?"

"Just do it. I've got an idea."

For a second Kyler thought that Diego had decided to ignore her, but then she saw the telltale red beam come out from his rifle right into the cockpit of one of the skiffs. The skiff banked hard left and he and his wingman zeroed in on Ramirez's position. _That got their attention. Don't miss, Kye, you've only got one shot at this._

Both skiffs came in fast, skimming low over the LZ.

_Now._

Shepard ran as hard as she could towards the crate of chemical rockets ahead of her, contorting her body in a mnemonic motion as she did so. The crate lifted elegantly off of the ground and Kyler adjusted her motion mid-form, hurling loose rockets straight into the path of the oncoming aircraft.

For a brief moment it looked like it actually worked. The first skiff flew right into the improvised flight of the rockets, sucking two into its intake and taking a third along its fuselage. It disappeared in a toxic, hissing, green explosion. The second skiff fared better, seeing the oncoming rockets and swerving out of the way at the last instant. Shepard's stomach sank as she watched the pilot regain control of his aircraft and begin to come around again for another run.

"Okay, I'm out of ideas now. We're really dead this time."

Just then a surface to air missile streaked out of the far side of the tree line, impacting the rear engine of the last skiff and causing it to explode.

_How many miracles can you expect in a single day?_

Shepard saw a squad of Alliance Marines emerge from the woods where she'd just seen the missile fly from.

_Evidently at least three._

**

* * *

**

"Service Chief Philippe Girard, 359th. Who are you?"

"Service Chief Kyler Shepard, Delta Company, 314th, SSV Khe Sanh. This is Corporal Diego Ramirez from Fox Company, 102nd, SSV Canae."

Girard stared past them at the burning wreckage the two Marines had created.

"You two did all this? And the two other skiffs? By yourselves?"

"Nope, it was the Easter bunny. We're on shore leave."

Several of the Marines from the 359th snickered at Ramirez's comment as Girard turned bright red, though Shepard couldn't tell if it was from anger or embarrassment.

"Hey, are you guys coming with us?"

"Shut up, Singh."

"Aw, come on, Chief. If it really was them instead of the Easter bunny, then we could use them in this fight, you know that."

"Private Singh, I believe I just tol…"

"Yes. We're coming with you," Shepard interrupted. _No point in fighting amongst ourselves._ She looked over at the Marine who had piped up. Private First Class Singh was shorter even than her and was eagerly gripping his sniper rifle. He was clearly anxious to prove himself. She looked back at Girard. "The 359th… You're part of the permanent security garrison on Elysium, right?"

"Yup, we sure are." It wasn't lost on Shepard that Singh had answered her question for the squad instead of Girard. _Kid's got balls._

"I hate to interrupt, but we've got company." Everyone looked to where Diego was pointing. A company strength element of batarians, accompanied by a score of varren and at least a platoon sized unit of other indigenous aliens was moving towards the charred LZ below where they were standing. "What do you think, Kye? They don't realize we're here yet."

"This ground's pretty good. If they don't get too clever and try to cut us off we can make their lives pretty miserable for a bit, maybe buy the rest of the garrison and the civilians some time. Girard, what kind of civilian evac plan does Elysium have?"

Girard gulped before tearing his eyes away from the approaching mass of enemy troops. "At the first alarm the civilians know to either go into their own shelters or to go to one of the colony centers. The one nearest here is a huge underground complex we call the Refuge. It looks like a normal building from the outside, except that it has some defensive turrets set up, but below ground it is built to withstand a long siege until help is able to come from Arcturus."

"How long is that supposed to take?"

"Well, most simulations place reinforcements arriving no sooner than four hours after the call goes out."

"No _sooner_ than four hours?" Shepard shook her head in disbelief. _Now we __**definitely**__ need to stall them here._ "Okay, here's the plan. Girard, deploy your Marines in an L-shaped ambush along the top of this ridge at the edge of the tree line, but don't open fire until I tell you to. I'll direct the ambush from the center. Send your best shot with Ramirez. Diego, you two are going to provide over watch for our flank. Kill anyone who tries to sneak up on us, and let me know as soon as things start looking unmanageable."

"Can we snipe the guys coming your direction too?"

"Singh, I'm going to pretend you didn't just ask that, though I'm guessing by your question that you're the squad's designated marksman." She looked around at the expectant faces surrounding her. "Let's move, people!"

**

* * *

**

The L-shaped ambush had worked to perfection initially, catching several dozen unsuspecting batarians in a deadly swath of gunfire. Since then, however, it had been touch and go, with the alien raiders giving almost as good as they took. Now that they no longer had the element of surprise, all the Marines had going for them was the high ground and Shepard's resolve.

And Diego's sniper rifle.

Ramirez and Singh had been pouring fast, accurate sniper fire into the enemy's ranks non-stop since the first ambush, and it was apparent from their troop movements that the batarians and their alien allies were terrified of them. At one point Singh's rifle had overheated, leaving just Diego to cover their exposed flank. Even Kyler had been surprised at the speed and lethality at which Diego had continued to fire into the enemy; he may as well have been an entire sniper team by himself. Once Singh's sniper rifle was back on line again there had been absolute hell to pay for any pirate foolish enough to sneak up along the far side of the tree line. They were almost singlehandedly keeping the rest of the Marine squad in the fight. But in spite of it all, Kyler felt in her gut that it was not going to be enough.

Shepard ran along the ridge to a point where she could see the whole LZ and get eyes on all of the Marines under her command, quickly sizing up the situation. Ramirez looked like he was enjoying himself and Singh was holding up well enough, but the rest of the Marines in Girard's squad looked increasingly overwhelmed as they realized the mounting odds they were up against. _We're no good out here. We need to link up with the rest of the colonial garrison and mount a coordinated defense until reinforcements arrive. If reinforcements arrive._ There was a brief lull in the pirates' attack on their position as they fell back to regroup. _This is the best chance we're going to get to break contact here._

"We're done fighting for now; time to run. Girard, navigate us back to the Refuge. Ramirez, you're on point. Singh, rear guard. The rest of you fan out and watch the flanks. Keep a good 360 degree security, Marines! We'll pick up as many civilians as we can on the way back. Move out!"

As they stepped off, Girard approached Diego. "I have to ask, Corporal. How did you keep your sniper rifle from overheating back there? And don't tell me the Easter bunny did it."

Diego just grinned, stealing a quick glance over at Kyler as he did so. "Haven't you heard? I'm the best damn sniper there ever was."


	4. The Refuge

**The Refuge**

Their trip to the Refuge went without incident, and they even were able to round up several civilians from a variety of races, not just human, on their way back. A few times Shepard identified some natural choke points but fought the urge to lay another deliberate ambush for their pursuers; by then there were already too many civilians with them, too much potential collateral damage that she didn't want to have on her conscience. She had been a colonist too, once.

On the other hand, she didn't want to just let those bastards from the Terminus Systems just waltz in unopposed, so she instructed Diego and some of the Marines in Girard's squad to lay some booby traps and improvised explosives along the choke points as they went through them. It would probably only succeed in inflicting a few casualties, maybe freak out the rest of the batarians if they were lucky, but it made her feel like she was doing _something_. More importantly, it would almost certainly slow the raiders down and buy additional time for the Fifth Fleet to get there and lift the siege. _That's assuming the powers-that-be had the good sense to call it in as soon as the attack started. _

When they got to the Refuge, however, they quickly discovered that by bad luck or by design, the commander of the garrison and all of the officers had been killed by a different attack skiff before the garrison's ragged anti-air defense finally shot it down. That left Service Chief Girard and Service Chief Shepard as the two senior ranking Marines left in the eastern sector.

Technically, Girard had several years in both time in rank and time in service on Shepard.

Realistically, no one, not even Girard, was questioning Shepard's authority at this point. Nor, for that matter, did anyone really want to. Her fire was keeping the rest of them going.

Marines and sailors who were on leave like Kyler and Diego had rallied to the Refuge and armed themselves, ready to support the 359th by whatever means necessary. But right now, they were all looking to her for guidance. Kyler took a deep breath. _Your Marines need you to lead them, Kye. Step up. This is your time._

"Circle up real quick, all of you. You all need to understand the situation, what we're up against. There are well over a hundred slavers out there - aliens and humans - who want to destroy this colony and enslave anyone unlucky enough to survive. We're outnumbered, outgunned, lack any semblance of air superiority, running low on medigel, water, and provisions, have no comm with anyone on the outside, and on top of that we're trying to protect about 1,000 colonists that were either fortunate enough or unfortunate enough to make their way here, to the biggest target in Elysium. I'll be honest with you. I don't expect many of us to survive this fight that's coming. But we're going to make the enemy pay for every inch of ground and every drop of blood. Right here is where we make our stand. Right here is where we hold and refuse to break. This is our last line of defense. If they get through us, every single colonist on Elysium is varren fodder. So from now on, if it moves, it dies."

Her assembled troops – an assortment of Marines, sailors, and even some civilians – nodded understandingly.

"All right, warriors. Let's make them pay."

She positioned troops along the Refuge wall, to man the turrets and repel the enemy attackers. For a while it was working. They took some casualties, but the Refuge was solidly built and provided great cover for its defenders.

Suddenly a huge explosion rocked the building, and Shepard gasped as sunlight started streaming in from the hole that the pirates had just created in the wall of the seemingly impenetrable Refuge. Breaking up the sunlight were the dark shadows of dozens of batarians streaming in like rats. There wasn't any time to be surprised, just to react to the complete pandemonium that had erupted in the passageway. Chaos and death reigned.

**

* * *

**

Singh was dead, along with many, many others. He had died leading an impromptu squad of defenders in a desperate counter-attack after the raiders had breached the outer wall. In the short time she'd known him, Shepard had been impressed by the young man's courage and his eager sincerity. Now she, Diego, and Girard were carrying Singh's broken body away from where the fighting had taken place, back towards the entrance to the underground shelter. He deserved that much. They placed his small, broken frame down. Shepard closed her eyes, blocking out the tears. She hated losing Marines in combat, hated the guilty feeling that she had failed them by allowing them to die while she survived somehow. Even though she realized that it was irrational, it didn't change how she felt.

Kyler felt Diego place a hand on her good shoulder. "We'll make sure he gets a proper burial later, Kye, but right now all we can do is concentrate on completing the mission so that his death means something."

Their position was rapidly becoming untenable, and they all knew it. Even the raiders seemed to sense it. _And yet…_ Then it hit her. The problem wasn't the location, the problem was how many wounded Marines they had stuffed in the passageway. _We should be using this point to bottleneck their advance. As long as they keep trying to enter through here, we only need one or two Marines to seal the breach and hold them at bay. Just like the Spartans at Thermopylae._ In an instant Shepard had made up her mind.

"Chief Girard, take your wounded and the rest of your men and fall back to the shelter. Seal off all entry points except the main one, and position as many of your men who can still fire a weapon at that entrance. If any of the civilians can help, enlist them too. Corporal Ramirez and I will hold them here at this breach point until reinforcements arrive. You wait for the all clear, do you understand me? Wait for the all clear." She made eye contact with Diego. He simply nodded.

"Roger that, Shepard." Girard looked at them both. "Good luck, you two."

Shepard gripped her weapon with a renewed purpose as she watched Girard and the rest of his Marines arduously make their way to the far end of the passageway behind them, alternately offering words of thanks and encouragement as they went down into the shelter. She looked at her friend and took a deep breath.

"Digs, we need to scavenge the dead for medigel, grenades, weapons, explosives, anything that might be useful and then get some better defilade for this position before they come back." Kyler turned and started to walk towards their meager defenses, but stopped when she felt Diego's hand grab her arm.

"I'm with you all the way, Kye."

"I know. Thanks."

Behind them Girard sealed off their only escape route, and the two Marines heard the sounds of snarling varren and batarians approaching them from the direction of the breach in the wall. A grim smile crept across Shepard's lips as she sighted in with her sniper rifle. _Come and get it._


	5. Last Stand

**Last Stand**

Two hours later found them still holding fast, but only just barely. The rotting carcasses of dead pirates littered the ground in front of them. Unfortunately, the rancid odor was magnified by the heat and the lack of ventilation inside the narrow passageway. The sheer smell alone was enough to make her sick; Kyler had been dry heaving in between attacks for the past hour. Diego had been able to keep his composure so far, but he looked nauseated as well.

Shepard had lost track of how many batarians, varren, and other pirates that they had killed since Girard and the others had retreated underground. By now it was clear that the pirates weren't just batarians. There were a few other alien races that she didn't recognize – she assumed they were from the Terminus systems – and even some humans. The pile of corpses in front of them continued to grow steadily each time the pirates assaulted their position. At least the pirates seemed to be getting tired too. Instead of a continuous wave of attackers, they were coming in smaller groups at almost regular intervals. _It's like they want to give us a fighting chance or something. _It didn't make any tactical sense at all for them to do that, but she'd take whatever advantages they gave her. _Or maybe they just don't like each other. This attack has all the other markings of a poorly organized coalition._ The sudden notion gave her a moment's pause.

She was jolted out of her scattered thoughts by an explosion near the breach in the wall, causing the opening to expand significantly and allowing three krogan mercenaries to rumble within a few dozen meters from the makeshift defensive position that she and Diego were using as cover.

_Shit, shit, shit!_

One of the krogan smiled wickedly and threw up a barrier shield.

_Dammit, a Battle Master. This is not good._

Even though she had never fought krogan before, she'd heard about them. Intuitively she knew that their best bet for survival was to keep the krogan as far away from them as possible; they would probably not survive a close-in encounter with any of the evil-looking mercs charging towards them right now. Shepard instinctively spun in a mnemonic motion, and dark energy spiraled out of her extended arm, throwing all three krogan backwards.

"Grenades, now!"

Taking advantage of the krogans' momentary surprise, they hurled grenades at the prone mercs in quick succession. The blasts blew them even further back into the passageway, causing extensive damage in all three. The Battle Master and one of the other mercs stood up, visibly angry. The third krogan remained on the ground in a spreading pool of orange blood. The Battle Master roared furiously and began charging again. He was closely followed by the other krogan. Ramirez engaged his assault rifle on overkill in a vain effort to fell the advancing mercs. Shepard charged her shotgun, aimed at the Battle Master's head, and fired. At the last moment he ducked the incoming carnage round, but although it still hit his companion square in the chest, it barely slowed him down. The Battle Master and the other krogan were almost on top of them now.

"This one's mine!" she shouted, eyes locked with the Battle Master. She breathed a quick prayer that Diego would actually listen to her for a change.

In two swift mnemonic motions she threw up a biotic barrier of her own and launched a stream of warping dark energy towards the oncoming krogan.

Not a moment too soon. The Battle Master had done the same thing, and the two fields of dark energy collided, heating up the air. Kyler could feel the pulsating field. If the krogan felt it too he didn't show it, instead choosing to barrel right through the energy field roaring as he swung his shotgun at her in a vicious melee attack, the blue auras from their shields crackling as they overlapped.

Shepard didn't even have time to think any more. She ducked as he clubbed at her with his assault rifle, nearly falling in the process. The krogan swung again, catching her in the left shoulder as she tried to move in time. Kyler yelled in anger and pain as she angled her shotgun under the exposed part of his armor and pulled the trigger. That caught him by surprise; he had not been expecting her to be able to employ her weapon so close, and their proximity had actually mitigated the effect of his biotic shields. Bellowing in pain, he again swung at her, but this time she neatly side-stepped the blow, leveled her shotgun and fired straight into his chest. The massive krogan was already charging her again, but now he wasn't trying to club her anymore. As she raised her shotgun for a third time he threw down his own weapon and grabbed hers with both hands, snapping it in two. _So much for that._ She pulled out her knife; they would have to settle this the old fashioned way. _This is going to suck._

Shepard could tell that her attacks had weakened and slowed the Battle Master considerably, but he was nowhere near dead. She allowed herself to steal a quick look past him to see how the Diego was faring. He was holding his own against the krogan she had hit in the chest with the carnage round – in fact, he looked like he was winning. She didn't have long to think about that though, because the Battle Master reached out and grabbed her by the throat, lifting her off of the ground as he reached for his sidearm with his free hand.

Kyler gritted her teeth. **"No. You . Don't."** She stabbed the blade of her knife into the krogan's forearm and hooked her leg immediately above his elbow, jerking down as she simultaneously twisted her blade. Shepard listened with satisfaction at the snapping noise in his arm, followed immediately by the enraged cry of pain as his arm started to droop. Reaching across her body, she pulled out her sidearm and squeezed off several rounds into his knee, causing it to buckle. The krogan let go of her, and she rolled as she hit the deck spinning around to bring her pistol up to bear. He was turning to face her again, his own sidearm finally out. She took careful aim and hit the receiver of his pistol, causing it to explode in his hand. More surprised than hurt, the Battle Master roared again. Kyler aimed and fired several more rounds into his open mouth, spraying orange blood. The enraged krogan charged again, slower than before but fast enough to close the distance between them. Shepard tried to jump back, but only succeeded in taking a fist intended for her face in her stomach instead, causing a sickening crunching noise as several of her ribs collapsed under the force of his blow. Every ounce of air she had was expelled as soon as he hit her, and Kyler reeled in pain. She looked up in time to see the krogan raise his armored fist again, this time intending to crush her skull. Kyler swung her knife at his face, nearly cutting his eye out. In the confused second that followed as the battlemaster howled in rage, she swept his legs from underneath him. Before he had time to react, Shepard leaped up, still gasping for air, and stepped on his good arm before pinning it to the ground with her knife. She pulled out her last grenade, primed it, and stuck between his armor and the back of his head beyond his reach before leaning in close and making eye contact with her opponent.

"That's right, ugly, you just got owned by a girl. You get to die knowing that."

She removed her blade, took a quick step back, and lifted the Battle Master into the air with a swift mnemonic motion before diving for cover. The grenade splattered him all over the walls of the confined passageway, and if was possible, made it smell even worse.

Shepard immediately turned towards where Diego was fighting. He had just knocked over his krogan with a vicious strike to the head with the buttstock of his assault rifle. Sheathing her knife as she ran over, Kyler leveled her pistol, aimed, and fired right into the sucking chest wound she had given the merc earlier. A shower of orange blood spurted out of the exit wound in his back, and the last krogan shuddered and died.

Alone in the passageway with Diego, Shepard collapsed against the wall, breathing heavily and shaking with emotion. _What I wouldn't give for some medigel right now._ Her shoulder was in very bad shape, and she probably had several broken ribs, to say nothing of the injuries she had sustained during earlier fighting. But for the time being anyway, she and Diego were still alive, and so were the colonists still hiding in the Refuge. _Please, God, just give me a sign that we're going to make it. _Her eyes were burning with tears of frustration.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take, Diego."

"Shh." Diego draped his arm around her, and for a brief moment, Kyler felt better as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax. "We're gonna make it, Kye, we're gonna make. We always do."

"How can you be so sure?"

"When have I ever been wrong? Besides, you're the toughest person I've ever met. I don't think it's possible to break you. I can't bring myself to believe that you'll prove me wrong now."

"If you only knew, Digs…"

"I do know."

They rested there for a few blissful seconds, momentarily unaware of anything else.

They never saw the red sniper beam.

**

* * *

**

_Macapa Boot Camp, Brasil, 2172 (four years ago)_

"Quit goldbricking, you nasty, disgusting recruits!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!"

"Why is the puny red-headed princess destroying all of you in the bear pit?" Gunnery Chief Ellison roared. "Shepard is smaller than every single one of you, and she's still kicking your lard asses from here to Arcturus!"

The platoon of Alliance Marine recruits sat in stony, shamefaced silence at that accusation, unable to defend themselves. They were two weeks into basic training and so far no one had been able to dispute Shepard's clear supremacy in combat conditioning. Still standing in the bear pit, Shepard tried to catch her breath without showing how winded she really was. She'd been in the bear pit - the name given to the ring where they practiced hand-to-hand combat - for a full hour, and she had beaten every challenger to this point. It infuriated Gunny Ellison. Not because he had a personal grudge against Shepard, but because he couldn't yet bring himself to believe that Shepard might really be that superior to the other recruits.

"Ramirez! You're the only other "N" contract in this platoon. Why the hell hasn't your pusillanimous recruit carcass gone into the bear pit to challenge Shepard yet?"

"NO EXCUSE, SIR!"

"I know that you've been in street fights before, you inveigling punk! You're not scared of a little girl from the colonies, are you?"

"NO, SIR!"

"Congrat-u-freakin-lations, Ramirez, you might actually survive. Get in there!"

"AYE AYE, SIR!"

Ramirez clambered down into the bear pit. He had easily beaten a few other recruits earlier, but he hadn't volunteered to fight Shepard yet because he'd wanted to bide his time, study the way she fought, and if she was still in the bear pit later (he was pretty sure she would be), fight her once she was sufficiently tired. Like right now. Ramirez had to admit that he was impressed with her ability to hold her own against everyone else, regardless of how much bigger they were. Her previous two opponents had each weighed at least seventy pounds more than her, and she had completely dismantled both of them. But they hadn't grown up on the streets like he had. No, now it was payback for all the times she'd made the rest of the platoon look stupid in front of Gunny Ellison and the other drill instructors.

He got into the bear pit and looked at her, noticing up close that she was visibly tired but hiding it well. But then something else grabbed his attention, a bright gleam in her icy blue eyes that told him that she wouldn't quit, that she would only stop fighting when she'd won. Ramirez felt a chill go up his spine, and he realized that he was afraid of the cute, diminutive red-head crouching in front of him in a low fighting stance.

Gunny Ellison blew his whistle and she attacked, far quicker than someone who had been grappling almost non-stop for an hour should have been able to move. Even though he'd been watching her for that entire time, the speed at which she moved still caught him by surprise. He was able to block her attack and counter it, momentarily surprising her. Apparently she was used to fighting opponents bigger than herself, but not opponents as skilled as she was. Before she had a chance to recover he swept her legs out from under her, and they both went down, pummeling each other with blows. Despite the ferocity of her attacks, Ramirez was able to hold his own, and as seconds turned to minutes, Ramirez felt Shepard's already taxed stamina begin to ebb ever so slightly. Ground fighting took a lot out of you after a few minutes, and she'd been at it non-stop for a solid hour. He was gradually gaining the upper hand, and Shepard seemed to notice it too. He could sense a barely noticeable desperation in her fighting as they both felt what was left of her strength slipping slowly but steadily away. It was only a matter of time before he tapped her out, and they both knew it. That's when Ramirez made his first and only mistake of the fight.

"Welcome to earth, colony rat. This is how we fight here."

The light in her eyes which had been gradually fading flared up with a vengeance, and he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his solar plexus, knocking the air out of him and hurling him into the air. Before he even hit the ground, Shepard had moved laterally and was kicking him directly in the chest, knocking him sideways into the wall and causing his head to snap back against the wooden barrier. Through the stars dancing in front of him, Ramirez could barely make out Gunny Ellison grabbing Shepard and keeping her from jumping on top of him. She was screaming hysterically, cold fire burning in her eyes as she tried to get to him.

"Fight's over, recruits. Johnson, help Ramirez out of the bear pit. Shepard, you're done."

Whether by accident or because Gunny Ellison had a sick sense of humor, Ramirez and Shepard found themselves on fire watch together later that night after the rest of the platoon was asleep.

Still unsure of exactly what had happened earlier, but intuitively knowing that he had somehow touched an open wound, Ramirez decided to try to make amends. Undefeated in the bear pit or not, Shepard was still far and away the cutest girl in the platoon.

"Hey, Shepard."

"Shut up. I don't want to talk to you."

"I'm trying to apologize."

"And I'm trying to ignore you. Shut up."

"Shepard, for crying out loud, I can't even remember what I said in the bear pit, but it must have been pretty bad, because you flipped out. I had you dead to rights, and then all of a sudden I was seeing stars and trying to remember how to breathe. I don't know what it was that I said that hurt you so much, but I'm sorry, okay?"

"Colony rat. You called me a colony rat, you prick."

"I said I'm sorry. Geez, haven't you ever heard of trash talking? You're not the only recruit in our platoon from the colonies, and I don't have anything against any of you guys, I swear. If anything, I'm kind of jealous. I never knew my parents. I'm a street urchin who grew up in the gang wars of Los Angeles looking out for myself. I'm lucky to be where I am today. You… well, you have a family. That means something, and I'm sorry for disrespecting them. I wish I had a family for you to insult, but I don't. I came to boot camp to escape my life, so I wouldn't be stuck running with gangs until I got killed in a dark alley some day. I know I need to work on making the right kind of friends, and I figured that since we're both going to be special forces…"

"Had."

"Huh?"

"I had a family." Tears were forming in Shepard's eyes but her voice was strangely flat. "They're dead now." She took a deep breath and shuddered. "They were killed by batarian slavers a couple years ago along with almost everyone else in our colony. I survived. When I was old enough I joined the military because I had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. Everyone and everything I knew died in that raid."

"Oh." He fumbled over what else to say. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I never would have said that if I'd known."

"It's okay, Ramirez. It's not your fault."

"But still… I'm sorry, Shepard. I really am. I know what it's like being an orphan, and I know what it's like being alone." He thought for a second. "That's why you push yourself so hard, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You always seem so driven, so intense. It's for them, isn't it? For your family."

"Yeah, I guess so." Now she was looking at him intently, the beginnings of a playful smile on her lips. "You know, you're really perceptive for a street urchin."

"You're pretty tough for a colony rat."

She laughed. "No, I mean it, Ramirez. You're the first person who I've ever talked to who actually seems to understand." She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I guess I never would have pegged you as someone to care so much about someone else. Sorry if that seems callous." She paused to make eye contact with him again. "Thanks."

Ramirez returned her gaze and smiled kindly. "You're welcome, Shepard."

She smiled back and extended her hand to him. "My name's Kyler."

He took her hand and shook it firmly. "Diego."

"Hi, Diego. It's good to meet you."

**

* * *

**

Kyler screamed in frustration as she tried to put pressure on Diego's wound. It was too little, too late. Even if they hadn't been out of medigel, it wouldn't have made a difference, but she was too frantic to notice.

"Kye…" Diego was fading fast. He opened his mouth to speak and coughed up blood. With his final ounce of strength Diego reached out and clasped her hand, smiling at her one last time.

**

* * *

**

The same sniper that had killed Diego had almost gotten her a few times too. Shepard clenched her teeth in anger. _Enough is enough. This ends now._

The trick was how to lure him into giving away his position. Shepard was pretty sure she knew approximately where he was at. She was also fairly certain, based on the impacts of the shots that had almost hit her, that he was cocky enough to think that he didn't have to relocate. She was going to make him pay for that arrogance.

Shepard had found a beat up drone, no good any more for combat or even reconnaissance, but she had other plans. It went against everything she'd ever been taught, but it was worth a try if it could give her a shot against that sniper. Fortunately, as long as he was out there the batarians weren't launching any other attacks. _They must be hoping that he whacks me so that they don't have to lose anyone else fighting me head-on in this choke point they made._ If she hadn't been so intent on killing the sniper, she might have found the irony amusing.

_Okay. Here goes nothing._ She hunkered down and started playing with the drone's controls as she kept her sniper rifle close at hand. A red beam suddenly appeared on the side of her helmet.

_**CRACK! **_

The sudden report of the batarian's sniper rifle shattered her helmet and destroyed the little drone that had been exposing it just over the defilade she was hiding behind. It also gave her the time she needed to zoom in on the origin of the red beam.

_**BOOM!**_

As she tracked her shot, she saw a limp shape slump down behind the cover it had been using the moment before. _Got you, you bastard._ She kept her rifle trained on that spot for a solid minute before finally being content that the sniper wasn't coming back.

Shepard carefully retrieved her helmet from mess that used to be the drone. It wasn't functional any more. _Gunny Santiago's gonna kill me._ She peered closer. The comm piece was still salvageable. Shepard quickly jerry-rigged the earpiece to transmit as well as listen, and adjusted it to fit neatly around her ear. _There. Now I can listen to "Top Ten Remix" before I buy the farm._ This time she didn't laugh at her private joke.

**

* * *

**

Shepard was so exhausted that she had started hallucinating. A minute ago she had thought she'd heard her platoon commander's voice come over the comm. _But that's impossible. Lieutenant Bradley and the others are conducting zero-gee combat training on Luna. _She clenched her teeth. No, there were no reinforcements coming. She was on her own here until she died. Or ran out of ammo. The irony was almost funny. According to all the propaganda fed to the Alliance public, their weapons did not run out of ammunition because of the mass effect technology employed to speed up the almost microscopic projectiles they used as ammo. _Yeah, whatever._ She had already completely extinguished the ammunition of three shotguns and four pistols, and she was making good headway on the two pistols she was currently wielding. The overpowering stench of mangled corpses was still unbearably nauseating, and as she dry heaved for what felt like the thousandth time Kyler found herself breathing another silent prayer of thanks that she hadn't eaten anything all day.

"Echo Base, Echo Base, this is Delta-1-6, come in, over."

She almost jumped at the sound of Lieutenant Bradley's voice coming over the comm net again. Had she imagined that a second time? _Please, God, let that be them. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going._

"Echo Base, Echo Base, this is Delta 1-6, do you read me?"

"Delta 1-6, this is Sierra 2826 for Echo Base, send it." There were a few seconds of silence on the net.

"Calling station, say again your last, over."

"Delta 1-6, this is Sierra 2826 for Echo Base. Echo Base comm is offline. I am holding, but my position is tenuous. Requesting immediate assistance. How copy?"

"Solid copy, calling station. Confirm call sign and classification."

"Affirmative, Delta 1-6. This is Sierra 2826, call sign Phoenix, classification Noble 7." She thought she heard a sigh of relief at the other end. _That's right, sir, it's really me._

"How are you doing, Phoenix?"

"Pretty shitty, 1-6. I'm up to my armpits in batarians and thugs, and it smells like Navy chow down here, but at least the weather's nice. How 'bout yourself?"

"I'll be much better once we link up with you and the other survivors. Where exactly are you?" Shepard transferred her coordinates to Lieutenant Bradley and gave a quick sitrep. He listened carefully before answering. "Roger that, Phoenix. Will be at your pos in five mikes. Hang in there. Delta 1-6 out."

The next five minutes seemed to last forever. Suddenly she heard a large volume of fire erupt outside of the building, followed by the shouts of Alliance Marines clearing the area forward of her position. Maybe it was because she'd been fighting non-stop for so long, maybe it was because she was the last Marine standing between the colonists of Elysium and certain death, maybe it was because even hours later she was still reeling from the suddenness of losing Diego. Whatever the reason, Shepard didn't relax or take her finger off the trigger until she saw Lieutenant Bradley and Gunnery Chief Santiago stride in, assault rifles at the ready, with the rest of the Marines of First Platoon, Delta Company in tow.


	6. Beginnings

**Beginnings**

Shepard couldn't believe it. Twelve hours later, it was her own platoon that had broken through enemy lines to get to them. _What are the odds?_ She winced as she slowly and painfully stood up to greet Lieutenant Bradley and the other Marines who were now securing the Refuge.

"Glad you showed up, sir. You sure are a sight for sore eyes."

"I just wish we could have gotten here sooner, Chief. Status?"

"Well, sir, there were a couple hundred raiders, mostly batarians, that landed around the outskirts of the city near the edge of the forest. I think there must have been some kind of loose coalition, because they came _in_ together, but they never seemed to relish the idea of fighting _next_ to each other. At any rate, they were easy pickings by the LZ, but once they were organized we had to break contact and pick out some better terrain. We engaged them at a couple different points groundside before falling back here with the remainder of the garrison and the colonists. We were followed by at least two company strength units who have been trying to take our position for the past... four hours almost. They breached the outer defenses of the Refuge a while back, but it was actually a blessing in disguise; it bottled up their advance when they decided to launch all of their subsequent attacks against that point. I been whittling away at the remnants of what I believe was another platoon-sized assault group was massing near the entrance of the building for the last half hour or so, but I'm guessing that you already took care of them…?" She looked inquisitively at Lieutenant Bradley, who nodded in reply, before she continued. "What's left of Elysium's east sector security garrison and close to a thousand colonists are holed up a couple hundred meters beyond here in the underground shelter. I've no idea how many colonists may have survived at other points along the city, but right now we could really use some medigel, water, and provisions, sir. Some of the civilians are wounded and none of them have had anything to eat or drink since the siege began." Shepard paused for a second. "One more thing, sir. Corporal Ramirez from the 102nd aboard the SSV Canae… my last unit… he was with me the whole way groundside, all the way here to the Refuge. He… He's dead, sir." She started choking up as she struggled vainly to find the right words. Fighting back tears, she looked at her platoon commander and straightened her posture. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Shepard." He paused. _I'm not going to bother telling you that it's not your fault, because you won't believe me anyway. _"We can't change the past, but we _can_ remember those who gave everything." Kyler wasn't even pretending to hide her grief any more; tears were streaming down her face, mingling with sweat and blood. "And next time, we do better for them," he added quietly. "You did more here than anyone else – and I mean _anyone_ else – could have done." _If anyone else in the galaxy had accomplished half of what you did here, he'd be patting himself on the back for the rest of his life. Instead, you're torn up inside because you lost a Marine._ "Are you going to be all right?"

"Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Bradley looked intently at her for a moment. He wasn't convinced. "Chief, I need you to come clean with me. You're one of my squad leaders, you owe me that much at least."

"Well, sir, my head's throbbing, my shoulder's on fire, it feels like I have a serrated knife in my ribcage, and my legs are pulverized. Other than that, I don't have any complaints."

Lieutenant Bradley shook his head, smiling in spite of himself and trying hard not to laugh. _You really can't keep a Marine down for long, they're just too resilient. Especially the ones like Shepard. _"Doc, see to her. Gunny, get first squad on security asap. Have second squad get these dead bodies out of here, and then I want you to take third squad and check on the civilians." The medic and the platoon sergeant both acknowledged their orders, and the lieutenant looked back at Shepard again. The Marines were offering her words of encouragement as they went to their assigned posts.

Lieutenant Bradley took the opportunity to size up the situation. There were easily over a hundred dead batarians littering the ground. _I wonder how many of them she killed herself… _His attention was suddenly drawn to some noise near a small cluster of Marines. _What are they lollygagging for?_ He opened his mouth to correct them but instead blurted out an expletive when he saw what it was they were looking at. Second squad had found the remains of the three krogan mercenaries. _Holy hell, Shepard._ He stared in disbelief for a moment before turning back to his squad leader. Exhausted as she was, he could tell that it was finally starting to sink in that the fighting really was over and that she and the colonists were safe again. _Maybe now is not a good time to ask about the specifics of what happened here. _

"Where's your helmet, Shepard?"

Kyler winced. _Dang it, Gunny, I__** knew **__you were going to ask that…_

"Uh…" Shepard pointed helplessly to her shattered head gear, still lying on the pile of rubble where she had left it. She tried to shrug her shoulders, but that only resulted in another grimace. "No excuse, Gunnery Chief."

Lieutenant Bradley rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Shepard again. "Can I get you anything, Chief?"

She glanced up from the medic's poking and prodding. "Just one thing, sir." Her faint smile turned into a broad grin. "Please don't ever make me take leave again."

**

* * *

**

The biggest surprise of the week came when Admiral Steven Hackett himself landed on Elysium a few days later. Generally speaking, fleet commanders didn't bother coming to a planet's surface unless it was a really big deal, but it still shocked almost no one when the admiral asked to see Shepard even before he got an appraisal of the colony's status. Almost no one. Kyler was floored.

Less than an hour after getting the notice, Service Chief Kyler Shepard found herself standing at attention before the commanding officer of the Alliance Fifth Fleet. Admiral Hackett personally awarded her the Star of Terra. Kyler thought she would be able to hold it together until the Fleet Master Gunnery Chief began to read the posthumous citation for Corporal Diego Ramirez. Then her eyes started stinging.

_Why, Digs? Why? It should've been me. I wish it __**had **__been me._ Diego, who had always believed in her, supported her and been there for her from their earliest days together at boot camp in Macapa. Diego, who could always figure out a way to make her laugh. Diego, whose serenity under fire had saved her life so many times. Diego, her constant friend, who up until the moment he died had done everything he could to encourage her. Diego Ramirez had been as good a Marine as she was. _No. You were better. You were always better than me, Diego, because you didn't just believe in me, you also made me believe in myself. _She wept silently through the rest of the ceremony. If Admiral Hackett noticed her tears, he didn't say anything.

Afterwards he pulled Shepard aside.

"Service Chief Kyler Shepard."

"Yes, sir."

"Your sister platoon lost its commander groundside on Elysium when the rest of Delta Company was cutting off the pirates' escape route. I've already talked to your chain of command, and I have decided to make you the new platoon commander."

"With all due respect, Admiral, I'm just a Service Chief."

"Not any more, you're not. You're a Second Lieutenant."

"What about OCS, sir?"

Admiral Hackett snorted derisively. "What about it? It's overrated. If I say that you've got what it takes to be an officer, then you have what it takes. I wouldn't tell you that if it wasn't true, _Lieutenant_." He intentionally placed a slight emphasis on the last word. "And I certainly wouldn't have promoted you if I didn't think you could handle it. You're ready. You have my complete confidence."

"Thank you, sir." She hesitated for a moment, unsure of herself. "Admiral?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Shepard."

"How do you know that I'm ready?"

He fixed his gaze on her, immediately sensing the sincerity of her question and seeing the doubt in her eyes. _Mindoir stole more than just your innocence didn't it? What happened there, Shepard? What robbed you of your self confidence? What do you still blame yourself for? _Whatever it was that had shaped Kyler Shepard into the warrior she was now also made her feel completely unworthy of praise and unable to forgive herself for even the smallest errors. _Well, Second Lieutenant Shepard, even if you can't remember how to forgive yourself, at least have faith in your ability to inspire others. If not for your sake then for ours. _"Trust me. I know."

* * *

**For every one hundred men you send us,  
****Ten should not even be here.  
****Eighty are nothing but targets.  
****Nine of them are real fighters;  
****We are lucky to have them, they the battle make.  
****Ah, but the one. One of them is a warrior,  
****And he will bring the others back.**

**- Heraclitus, 500 BC**


End file.
